AIDY’S BOYS IN CRUISE CONTROL
England make semi thanks to three-goal romp
RaReLY has silence sounded so sweet. in the 69th minute a hush descended over Kielce’s compact arena and in that instant england knew their mission was complete.
this was the point in a high-pressured game with Poland when Demarai Gray flew down the left flank and showed tremendous poise to tee up Jacob murphy from six yards with the goal gaping and he gleefully put england into the last four of euro 2017.
in what has been a superb summer for the Fa’s development teams — the crowning achievement being the Under 20 world Cup triumph — the Under 21s are two games from potentially conquering europe. Calm, confident and clinical, they deserve the chance to dream.
what threatened to be an uncomfortable evening turned into a night of celebration as sandwiching murphy’s goal were a drive from Gray and Lewis Baker’s penalty to send them into semi-finals for the first time since 2009.
‘i believed we could get to the semi-finals,’ said aidy Boothroyd, the delighted Under 21 head coach. ‘we have gone from being one of the best 12 to one of the best four. the plan is to be one of the best two and then, hopefully, the best one. we are improving.’
Given that Group a was delicately poised, Boothroyd’s mantra was simple. england had to win. Given the way slovakia started in their 3-0 dismantling of sweden, a cautious approach would have put these Young Lions out.
Fortunately, england burst out of the blocks. a flurry of corners in the first four minutes almost lead to goals for James ward- Prowse, Baker and alfie mawson but the fourth chance that arrived was the one they cashed in on.
Jordan Pickford drilled a 60-yard pass out to Ben Chilwell, who in turn Gray and he did the rest, slaloming past a challenge before firing a shot that zipped past Jakub wrabel with the aid of a deflection.
You could see the confidence flood through the squad and only an inspired performance from wrabel in Poland’s goal prevented england ending the contest before half-time. in the space of six minutes he denied nathaniel Chalobah, mawson and Jon swift.
the only blip before the interval was the injury which forced Chalobah off with a groin injury. He was replaced by will Hughes.
another key switch took place during the break with murphy replacing nathan Redmond but the change did not disrupt england’s rhythm, as they kept the ball well and displayed intelligence.
Yet there was a sense england needed a second goal to make sure. the clincher should have arrived in the 57th minute but Baker’s curling strike was headed away by Jan Bednarek when it looked to be arrowing to the top corner.
no matter. after england surged away with a devastating counter that murphy jubilantly finished before Baker converted from 12 yards after substitute tammy abraham had been tripped by Bednarek, who was sent off.
‘it’s good to progress,’ said Gray, the star of the show. ‘But this isn’t over. Can we go further? why not. this team can cause anyone problems. ENGLAND U21 (4-1-2-1-2): Pickford 6.5; Holgate 7, Chambers 7, Mawson 7, Chilwell 7; Chalobah 6.5 (Hughes 39min): Ward-Prowse 8 (Abraham 73), Baker 7; Swift 7.5; Redmond 6.5 (Murphy 46), Gray 8.5. Scorers: Gray 6, Murphy 69, Baker 82. Booked: Mawson.